University of Maryland researchers have created the world’s highest-density hydrogen storage system, using “graphene origami.” (The stored hydrogen could be used in a fuel cell during peak hours, as system backup, or for portable, transportation, or industrial applications.).

Shuze Zhu and Teng Li, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering found that they can make tiny squares of graphene (the world’s thinnest material, at just one-carbon-atom thick) fold into a box that will open and close itself in response to an electric charge. Inside the cage (which contains 37 130 carbon atoms), they’ve stored 1468 hydrogen atoms, and have done so more efficiently than was thought possible.

The U.S. Department of Energy is searching for ways to make storing energy with hydrogen a practical possibility, and they set up some goals for onboard automotive hydrogen storage systems with a driving range of 300 miles or more: the Department had hoped that by 2017, a research team could pack in 5.5 percent hydrogen by weight, and that by 2020, it could be stretched to 7.5 percent.

Li’s team has already crossed that threshold, with a hydrogen storage density of 9.5 percent hydrogen by weight. The team has also demonstrated the potential to reach an even higher density, a future research goal.

“Just like paper origami, which can make complicated 3-D structures from 2-D paper, graphene origami allows us to design and fabricate carbon nanostructures that are not naturally existing but have desirable properties,” said Li, an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, a member of the Maryland NanoCenter and the University of Maryland Energy Research Center (UMERC), and a Keystone professor in the A. James Clark School of Engineering.

“In this paper, we show that graphene nanocages can be used for hydrogen storage with extraordinary capacity, holding the promise to exceed the year 2020 goal of the U.S. Department of Energy on hydrogen storage,” Li explained to KurzweilAI in an email interview.

“Paper origami has existed for more than a millennium. Such a concept has been explored to enable the formation of complicated 3D structures from 2D building blocks in recent years, such as micro-robots and actuators. In these developments, the building block materials are still bulk materials, with a final resulting 3D structure of size on the order of millimeters.

“The graphene origami we demonstrate in this paper uses the thinnest yet strongest materials ever made (one atom thick), leading to a nanocage on the order of several nanometers. Another unique feature of [Hydrogenation-assisted graphene origami] HAGO that does not exist in conventional origami is that programmable opening and closing of HAGO-enabled nanostructures can be controlled via an external electric field.

“Such a feature is highly desirable and crucial for programmable uptaking, storing and releasing molecular cargos via these HAGO-enabled nanostructures, and further more suggests that it is possible to control a large number of such tiny structures by simply tuning the electric field.”

The U.S. National Science Foundation supported the team’s research, published in the journal ACS Nano.

Abstract of ACS Nano paper

The malleable nature of atomically thin graphene makes it a potential candidate material for nanoscale origami, a promising bottom-up nanomanufacturing approach to fabricating nanobuilding blocks of desirable shapes. The success of graphene origami hinges upon precise and facile control of graphene morphology, which still remains as a significant challenge. Inspired by recent progresses on functionalization and patterning of graphene, we demonstrate hydrogenation-assisted graphene origami (HAGO), a feasible and robust approach to enabling the formation of unconventional carbon nanostructures, through systematic molecular dynamics simulations. A unique and desirable feature of HAGO-enabled nanostructures is the programmable tunability of their morphology via an external electric field. In particular, we demonstrate reversible opening and closing of a HAGO-enabled graphene nanocage, a mechanism that is crucial to achieve molecular mass uptake, storage, and release. HAGO holds promise to enable an array of carbon nanostructures of desirable functionalities by design. As an example, we demonstrate HAGO-enabled high-density hydrogen storage with a weighted percentage exceeding the ultimate goal of US Department of Energy.

There will be such a change in world politics when nobody needs gasoline any more.

Or natural gas, for that matter. Did you see the news that Russia went over the border into Ukraine to take over a town that has a hub for gas pipes.

When all the nations of the world can make all the hydrogen they need with solar or wind or tide power, there will be many fewer reasons for war.

But I also have to mention desalinating sea water with solar or wind or tide power.

With self-built robots to build all of these plants and pipelines, nobody need go thirsty or do without all the fuel they need (except for the land-locked desert countries of the world…we can only hope that a more peaceable world will also be more generous…but ancient rivalries and enmities may keep those land-locked countries living with all of the hardships of the past).

Wars over natural resources are extremely rare. Almost all wars arise from religious, ideological or ethnic/racial reasons. Russia needed that hub like the Midwest needs more snow. We should remember that WW1 and WW2 pitted the most advanced, educated nations against each other and despite the talk of “needing resources” Germany, the USSR and Japan needed those only for epanding empires.

With all the other uses of carbon in the body, this car will be so light that it will have over 500 miles of range with hydrogen having the power of 10 gallons of gasoline.

As all the forms of carbon that we like are lighter and stronger than steel, a car made of carbon nanotubes and graphene will pull such awesome g forces in a tight turn. Jerk the steering wheel to the left and your date will be glued to the right door.

Women will find this useful if a guy turns into an octopus on a first date (unless he has the “Slow Hands” that she likes).

yes indeed… that “lighter cars are less safe,” argument has been bandied about for years now by those who can’t stomach the idea of giving up their 3-ton behemoths on the road. Actually the philosophy is more like, “I feel so safe in my solid steel SUV knowing that I can crush your puny little econobox in an accident.” People with this attitude like to express it on the highway by driving aggressively, too.
I will grant you that sidewinds are a factor for lighter vehicles, but somehow I am still convinced that the massive synergies of lighter vehicles will more than make up for the sidewind issues.

the SUV is championed by the soccer mom, who is far more worried about the 8month old child in the baby seat than ‘crushing a puny econobox’.

In modern living, we risk our lives daily when we get inside the car. It’s by far the most realistic threat to our existence. There is a science behind all this, safety and crash-test ratings. I used to work in the automotive industry. And dismissing mass in a high energy collision is foolish. A 20 ton tank is far, far safer than a motorcyle, for instance – whatever it hits. A motorcycle is far more energy efficient. It’s a trade off, your existence, vs some gallons of hydrocarbons. You make the call.

Well…if you own Coors Beer, you can afford to collect armored personnel carriers and tanks. It would be fun to tear up an already ruined piece of the desert with one (but if I had that kind of money, I’d convert mine to run on hydrogen).

But a motorcycle can be more fun than a tank. You just have to get used to breaking some bones every once in a while. It’s not so bad a trade.